Talk:Karl Kautsky

Plagiarism
The following text is taken directly from the New World Encyclopedia "In the later 1890s, when Bernstein attacked the traditional Marxist position on the necessity for revolution, Kautsky denounced him, arguing that Bernstein's emphasis on the ethical foundations of socialism opened the road to a call for an alliance with the "progressive" bourgeoisie and a non-class approach." --BillO&#39;Slatter (talk) 05:01, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Atheist?
I heard some claim he was Christian or jew,any evidence of his religion?

A: This article claims he was Jewish, which is not true (even if he was, this would not necessarily have anything to do with personal theology). -- LS
 * Jewish is a reference to ethnic background. The religion was called Judaist or Mosaic. But the terminology is often conflated. There are disputes about the subject of 'Who is a Jew'. 105.12.0.241 (talk) 09:14, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

The sentence I removed
"Of course, Lenin would agree with this assessment, as he would point to the class nature of the dictatorship: ie. the dictatorship of the proletariat and poor peasantry versus the dictatorship of the landowners and capitalists."

Not only is this speculative, it is in violation of WP:NPOV as it asserts that had Lenin made such a reply it would have been correct. The "class nature" of the Soviet state is by no means universally agreed upon. Madashell 21:02, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

RE: Organizations and people who predicted the collapse of the USSR
I added Karl Kautsky to  because of this reference, which talks about people who felt the Soviet Union would collapse:

Shortly after the (Soviet) revolution, Bertrand Russell and Rosa Luxemburg, supporters of revolution second to none, wrote with deep regret that it was impossible that the Bolsheviks would succeed in building the kind of society they professed to believe in. Kautsky and the Mensheviks predicted even more emphatically that the whole experiment would end in disaster.

p. 188

Signed:Travb 13:25, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

The date of birth
I have changed the birth date from October 18th to October 16th. There are several sources indicating it was a mistake. See, for example,, , []. (Zdravko mk 12:31, 15 February 2007 (UTC))

Link to major works
I added external links to all of the major works already listed, except On the Agrarian Question, for which I could find none. --[[User:Horse

Badorties|Horse Badorties]] 03:22, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 04:12, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

No "Fourth" Volume of Das Kapital
There are three volumes of Das Kapital, the first published by Marx, the second and third published by Friedrich Engels. Karl Kautsky has no involvement with any of the three.


 * Not exactly so. Some people, including Kautsky, have published editions of Theories of Surplus Value under the classification of its being Volume IV of Das Kapital. For example, see this edition. Karmanatory (talk) 02:32, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

Opening the road
Can anybody simplify "Bernstein's emphasis on the ethical foundations of Socialism opened the road to a call for an alliance with the "progressive" bourgeoisie and a non-class approach", please?

Also, "the war credits" could benefit from a cross-reference. Unfree (talk) 23:45, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Jewish
Racism and Communist-conspiracy crap aside, he was Jewish. This needs to be noted since the connection between communist and socialist movements and Jewish leaders like Kurt Eisner was a driving force explaining Germany's political activities for the next decade. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.100.90.192 (talk) 20:34, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Do you have a citation for him being Jewish? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 100.38.9.50 (talk) 17:00, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

Kautsky was not Jewish. His father had the very gentile middle name "Baptist." The only source on his Judaism is an offhand remark in a New York Times column, for which no source is provided.

nationality of Kautsky?
The article states that Kautsky was a "Czech-German philosopher"

In fact he was Czech-Austrian. He was born in Prague in 1854. Prague at that time belonged to the Austrian Empire. In 1863 his family moved to Vienna, where Kautsky lived until 1880, when he departed to Germany and Switzerland. After his retirement, Kautsky moved back to Vienna in 1924, where he lived until his death in 1938.

Thus, Czech-Austrian seems to me more accurate than Czech-German. I have changed the article accordingly.

Source Johnston, William M, 1976: The Austrian mind: an intellectual and social history, 1848-1938: Univ of California Press. p.101

Tomasz, Budapest

193.225.200.92 (talk) 20:05, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 12 March 2015
The article states that Kautsky was a "Czech-German philosopher"

In fact he was Czech-Austrian. He was born in Prague in 1854. Prague at that time belonged to the Austrian Empire. In 1863 his family moved to Vienna, where Kautsky lived until 1880, when he departed to Germany and Switzerland. After his retirement, Kautsky moved back to Vienna in 1924, where he lived until his death in 1938.

Thus, Czech-Austrian seems to me more accurate than Czech-German.

Source:

Johnston, William M, 1976: The Austrian mind: an intellectual and social history, 1848-1938: Univ of California Press. p.101

Tomasz, Budapest

193.225.200.92 (talk) 20:08, 12 March 2015 (UTC)


 * ✅ It could be debatable, but the author of that book considered him Austrian and noted his mother was Austrian. I've left the German categories in there for now because some people consider him to be German. -- haminoon  ( talk ) 06:05, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Request for Comments
There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages.

The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person.

Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 01:42, 22 April 2015 (UTC)